DIY adjustable camber ball joints mod

[sambb]

Alright next update:



So pure joy.... the joints fit snug as a bug. Then more sweet sweet joy because its pretty obvious from the pic that these ball joints have a longer stub and the pivot sits further away from the hub. The distance from the base of the hub to the approx. centre of the joints body/pivot position was 26mm on the OEM and is 35mm on these. My control arms now angle down slightly at the ball joint side which pushes the roll centre up towards the COG. Or to look at it another way, and like Martin said, I can now lower the car further by 10mm and be having zero adverse impact on the roll centre location - steering angles might suffer though. The third pic shows that the pivot assembly is much sturdier and while running close to the disc still has ample clearance.

More to come but gotta go and get the kids from school now! .....walking though..... only had time for one side and I have some serious toe out now that the camber has been put into it.

Oh and all worries I had of strength issues have gone out the door. Theses things are beasts compared to the standard ball joints. They make the OEM's look like little noodly toys, with masses of surface area for the compression fit, a thicker flange and a giant pivot assembly so pretty happy there really.

[Martin]

Looks totally awesome

I can now lower the car further by 10mm and be having zero adverse impact on the roll centre location - steering angles might suffer though.

Lowering could give some bump steer - but that happens when lowering over 25mm

I run my Pulsar 40mm lower than stock and don't have a problem but then again I run around a track that's pretty smooth

[sambb]

yeah even at stock ride height (control arm pivots level) the tie rods angle upward maybe 10mm at the tie rod end so bump steer can only get worse as you lower. I have a feeling my tie rods/track rods are shot though so when I go to renew those i'll try to find a compatible tie rod end that will correct the steering. That's another project though.

[Notso Swift]

Looks good

Yes for stagger i mean wider front and narrow rear, I have nothing like ABS or EBD or ESC or ASC to worry about, all illegal in IP!

[sambb]

So first pic you can see the size difference. Main thing for me was that these joint are a compression sandwhich fit inside the control arm. Each of the ball joints has a raised 'pad' around its bolt holes that act as the surface where the ball joint actually is bolted tight into the control arm. You can see that the Audi ball joint on the left has a really hefty mounting surface compared to OE one. It also uses 10mm bolts so I decided to redrill the control arm to accept 10mm bolts on the outer two most bolts. I left the centre bolt at 8mm though due to that holes proximity to the original hole in the control arm. So yes the joint will sit out further but by the same amount the flange sits deeper into the control arm. Its hard to see in the other pics but thickness of the mounting pads and flange is greater in the audi unit too.
The other two pics show how much bigger the stubs pivot housing is compared to OE. I got a little excited about roll centre correction at this point but it wasn't till I measured them when fitted that it was obvious that the pivot is further down from the hub with the audi ball joint = awesomeness!



First 2 pictures compare the audi joint at its fully in and fully out settings versus the OEM in its fixed position. Its was very hard due to optical illusionisms but it looks like I don't have any more castor but may have lost a tiny bit, but there's no real way of knowing till alignment time.
When I fitted the joint I measured min and maximum camber positions and bolted it up in the middle. The last picture shows the result of this. That's a right angle on the garage floor showing the camber that is present. It definitely has added plenty of camber because its running bucket loads of toe out now.
With it on the ground I was able to see the results of the roll centre correction. My control arms are now lower on the ball joint end and in addition to the the pivot sits below the centre line of the control arm whereas the stocker has the pivot sitting level with the control arm centre line.
I'll get the other side in tonight and then i'll do a backyard toe alignment after I borrow some swivelling disc/pad thingies off a mate. Once its driveable I'll get it down to pedders to properly get the joints set up and all the proper coated high tensile bolts fitted.

while I had the wishbones out it was good to get in and look at the condition of the superpro bushes. They were schmick with no signs of wear or anything so they got a refurb too. It all looks rather new under there now as I gave the wishbones a refurb and paint job too.

ill follow up when the results are in after the alignment.

[Eddy]

Hoyhoy.

Thick telephone book can act as a swivelling pad.

[sambb]

hmm haven't seen one of them in a few years. Or I could nick a couple of maccas trays!

[sambb]

You gave me inspiration eddy. I found two of the kids nylon dinner place matts. I cut them in half and sat each half on top of the other and put them under each wheel. They slide super smooth when placed like that under each tyre that'll get it close enough to get it down to the aligners without tearing my tyres to shreds. thanks

[Martin]

Two layers of perspex with grease between them also works well

Keen to hear how the car handles after the alignment

[sambb]

anyone know how long the threads are on our tie rods. Obviously had to expose more thread to square the toe up so just wondering how much is likely to be left inside?
I couldn't get into anywhere half decent for the alignment tomorrow so i'll probably have to drive it how it is for a few days till I can get it sorted.